Three times. Danny Trevathan went down with a leg injury three times last season, the last of which landed him on the injured reserve and, in January, in the operating room.

Trevathan returned this offseason a few months removed from his reconstructive knee surgery appearing further along in his rehabilitation than fellow linebacker Brandon Marshall, who is recovering from a Lisfranc injury.

But the tables turned when training camp opened. Trevathan needed to scale back his participation in team drills, and Marshall’s health improved enough to where he could be used more.

Now, with the Broncos’ preseason opener at Seattle three days away, Trevathan is working his way back fully at practice and is noticing continued improvement in his left knee.Read more…

Danny Trevathan is helped off the field after re-injuring his knee during a game at San Diego last season. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

The first one came in August of last season. Danny Trevathan, the Broncos’ starting weakside linebacker, fractured a bone below his left knee during practice and was expected to sit out six to eight weeks.

Two months later, in his second game back after the first injury, Trevathan sustained another fracture in his left kneecap area, on only the second defensive play of the game, against Arizona. He didn’t need surgery but was expected to miss the following three to six weeks.

Then came the final blow. Trevathan dislocated his kneecap during the second half of a win at San Diego and was placed on the Broncos’ injured reserve. Trevathan, who had already missed 11 of the Broncos’ first 13 games, was done for the season.

So it can only be expected that the Broncos ease their linebacker back into the fold, monitoring his activity during the voluntary veteran’s mini camp so as not to repeat the past.

“I’m limited,” Trevathan said Tuesday. “I can’t do too much movement, but it’s good for me. I get to work on my mindset. I had a year last year to work on it, but now I’m really strong with my mind. I don’t like making mistakes.”

Knowshon Moreno has busted out for the Broncos this season. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

For football fans in Denver and around the world, here’s your newest edition of the Broncos Insider Newsletter, with links and stats from around the country looking toward Sunday’s Denver vs. New England AFC championship game…

Put a Colorado CRAFT BEER in your mouth. Left Hand Brewing in Longmont called an ‘audible’ on Peyton Manning’s Bud Light choice. They sent an open letter — and three cases of beer — to Broncos HQ, c/o the QB. C’mon Peyton, Sawtooth is way better than Bud Light.

This one comes via Twitter from @Irffootball. It’s been more than three weeks since Wolfe came down with what’s still a pretty mysterious illness on the Broncos team bus Nov. 29, and he hasn’t been seen — at least by the media — since. He’s been back at the facility but hasn’t practiced, and it’s hard to say when he’ll be back out there on the field. The team signing defensive end Jeremy Mincey last week might have been a hint that it thinks Wolfe’s return isn’t exactly looming, but at the same time, it hasn’t placed him on injured reserve.

Case Keenum on the ground after getting sacked against the Colts. (Michael Hickey, Getty Images)

The Texans announced Wednesday that quarterback Case Keenum will not play against the Broncos Sunday. Keenum is suffering from a thumb injury, and Matt Schaub will get the start in his place. Schaub was demoted mid-season after struggling with interception after interception (after interception).

Houston also placed running back Ben Tate on injured reserve Wednesday, ending his season. Tate broke his fifth rib of 2013, which proved to be too much. He led the team in rushing, with 771 yards on the season, before being shut down.

This one comes from @BroncosFan75 on Twitter, and the answers is short:

NO.

Clady was put on season-ending injured reserve in September. That means, by NFL rules, that he’s out for the regular season and the playoffs. When the injury was first announced, there was some hope that Clady might be able to return for the season’s final few games or the playoffs, but doctors quickly realized that surgery would be necessary. Once that was determined, season-ending IR was the logical choice.

Barring further injuries to the line, the job will be Chris Clark’s for the rest of 2013. And though missing one of the best left tackles in the league is decidedly a big deal, Clark has played well thus far in 2013, grading out on Pro Football Focus as the 10th-best left tackle in the NFL this season.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.